Thank you

Thanks to everyone who has expressed concern for me. I plan to take that second opinion letter of recommendation for treatment to my regular internist and work from there, once I get the letter.

Doctors have mentioned lupus as a possibility to me in the past, but I have always brushed it off because they never said for sure, and my ANAs (anti-nuclear antibodies) have always been in the normal range, except one test, about 15 years ago. I get the ANA test about once a year, at my request.

As I understand it, fibromyalgia is not a disease. It is a syndrome. There are several symptoms, and if you have enough of them, you get diagnosed with fibromyalgia. There are no real medical tests for it. It's similar to chronic fatigue syndrome in that respect. My symptoms are pain, tiredness, and insomnia. My insomnia I think was earned due to childhood trauma and has nothing to do with any other syndromes or diseases. I have learned to live with it. I think I am tired because I don't get enough exercise and I have gained some weight. I was used to being a 'hardbody' and do not do that level of training any more.

The pain. Well. I do have arthritis, which usually is not a big issue. I have never had to stay home or in bed because of it. I don't limp around or expect others to do for me. I also used to teach martial arts and spent many years flying through the air and landing hard on mats. When men are used to throwing each other and then pick up a 90 lb female, they forget they don't need to use as much strength. I used to hit the mat and then bounce a few times. Surely that took a toll on my body.

Maybe I am justifying, but I will rely on the advice of my internist. I do trust him as a medical practitioner. We do tend to trust those who tell us what we want to hear, but he came well recommended and I have been seeing him for several years.

Oh, I forgot. Memory loss is also a symptom of lupus. Well. I am not going there, but I will admit I forgot how to use photobucket. I was going to add a picture here......